


It's a Beautiful Day for a Beautiful Game (of Love and Soccer)

by notwithoutscott



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Derek pines, I basically americanized everything, I usually call soccer football but I americanized it, Kinda, M/M, Mentions of Character Death, WORLD CUP AU, derek plays kim k, it's basically 12k words of fluff and pining derek, it's mentioned a lot, laura and cora laugh, lots of fluff, lots of hale family feels, so I'm sorry for any mistakes I made
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 08:29:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1933974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notwithoutscott/pseuds/notwithoutscott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles sighs and starts fiddling with his hands. “You listen to me when I talk about stuff and you don’t tell me to shut up, even when I can tell that it annoys you because you scowl at the road the entire time I’m in the car with you,” he smiles slightly at Derek. “The only other person who’s like that with me is Scott. It’s nice I guess,” he continues. He looks nervous the entire time he’s talking, and he doesn’t look up from his hands at all.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Derek mumbles, suddenly feeling a little bit flattered. He’d like to ask why people don’t like listening to him but he’s pretty sure he already knows the answer, even if he might be warming up to Stiles more than he’d like.</p>
<p>Or: In which Derek is a taxi driver, Stiles is a customer who likes to talk about the World Cup, and Laura and Cora are possibly the worst-best sisters in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's a Beautiful Day for a Beautiful Game (of Love and Soccer)

**Author's Note:**

> oh my god I don't even know what to say this is the first fic I've finished in two years?? I started this wanting to make it like a 2k word ficlet and then it turned into THIS and I don't even know if it's good but oh well--we'll see!!
> 
> I want to thank Megan (I don't think she thought I was serious about this) because without her I would not have finished this fic. She's been encouraging me from the start and she stuck by me when I would annoy her with stupid questions and send her new parts. She's literally the best person ever so this is for her. 
> 
> Title of this story is taken from Hearts Upon Our Sleeve by Five Seconds of Summer. 
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy ok bye

Derek scrubs a hand over his face before picking up his ice coffee and gulping back as much as he can. He’s on his only lunch break of the day, (which, granted is about to end, but he’s almost finished his coffee and blueberry muffin anyway) so he’s sitting outside of his favourite coffee shop, reading a newspaper that was probably left on his table by one of the employees and is at least a month old. He subconsciously takes another bite of his muffin, swiping his thumb across the corner of his mouth to wipe away the crumb there and then turns the page of his newspaper.

There’s a huge story about the world cup which, back then, was starting in a month but has now actually started two days ago and Derek rolls his eyes, turning the page again. This time it’s a story about a pack of wolves that someone found while they were hiking, so he keeps reading.

He’s halfway through the article, finding comfort in the way the journalist describes the beauty of the wolves, when his phone rings. He sighs and puts down the paper before unlocking his phone and clicking ‘accept call’. “Hello?” He greets, already throwing the remains of the muffin and coffee into the trashcan next to his table.

“Derek I need you to pick up someone from Beacon Hills Community College,” there’s a pause at the end of the line. “He’ll be waiting outside of the Business building for you.”

"Okay.” Derek nods a goodbye at the employee who’s cleaning his table and begins walking towards his car. “Where am I taking him?” He asks.

"37 Anarchy Road, Beacon Heights,” Erica recites the address from what Derek presumes is either a torn out page from a magazine or a napkin that she used during lunch. Erica doesn’t believe in buying actual notepads for the taxi office.

“Alright,” he responds, nodding his head. He gets into the car and quickly turns on the air conditioning because it’s almost 76 degrees outside and Derek is _sweating._ “I should be there in about ten minutes,” he informs her before he puts his car in reverse and backs out of his parking space.

Derek hears a door slamming on the other line and Erica mumbles a short ‘I’ll be right with you’ to whoever walked in. “I told him you’d only be five minutes, so don’t delay,” Erica warns and then she’s hanging up without even a goodbye.

______

There’s a skinny kid with a plaid shirt and thick rimmed glasses waiting for Derek when he drives on campus. He grins at Derek, picks up his books and runs around to the passenger’s side of the car. “Hi!” Skinny College Kid says, still grinning and throws his books on the ground beneath his feet then pulls his belt out of it’s safety tie and ties it across his chest.

Derek nods his greeting at the same time as he puts the car into gear, decidedly ignoring the way Skinny College Kid’s knee is brushing against his own and how he’s _still_ smiling at seemingly nothing. Smiley College Kid then reaches into his pocket, moving his knee just enough so that it’s not touching Derek’s anymore and takes out two slightly old looking ten dollar notes. He places them on the dashboard and Derek notices the tattered cuffs of his plaid shirt and the outline of a spider-man t-shirt lying underneath it as he does so. Smiley College looks at Derek and says, “Twenty is the right amount, yeah? The girl that I called said it would be twenty. Was she wrong? You do know the address, right? How much do I owe you?” in such a rush that Derek thinks he only caught half of what he said.

Derek scowls at the road, and rubs a finger across his forehead. “Twenty is fine, and yes, Erica gave me the address. You don’t usually pay until you get to your destination though,” he tells Smiley College Kid.

Smiley College Kid pulls his phone out of his pocket and Derek sees a picture of him with his arms wrapped around a girl with strawberry blonde hair before he taps on his message and clicks ‘create new’.

“If I don’t pay right away I’ll forget to pay. Bad memory and all that.” He waves a dismissive hand in the air and makes a face that Derek assumes is supposed to make him look silly. Derek thinks it makes him look constipated instead.

Derek follows the GPS' directions to turn left off the main road and almost runs over a cat that jumps out of the bushes just as he’s making the turn. He slams on the brakes as hard and quickly as he can and curses as the cat screeches a little before running back towards the ditch. Derek looks over at Smiley College Kid who isn’t smiling anymore, but frowning at the bush that the cat disappeared into instead.

Derek senses that the kid wants to ask ‘oh my god is that cat going to be okay?’ and answers accordingly, “He’ll be fine, don’t worry,” with the best smile that he can manage (which is probably not that great) to try and assure the kid because he looks a little like he’s going to throw up.  

He turns on the radio when he starts driving again and is expecting to hear his favourite music channel surround him. He realises a little late that Isaac was last to drive this car and is greeted by a man talking about sports instead. Frowny College Kid makes an absolutely delighted noise and claps his hands together before turning again to look at Derek and asking, “Can you turn that up?”

Derek feels personally offended as he answers drily, “No. Why?”

“They’re talking about the World Cup. I want to hear their opinions on the Spain and Holland match,” he explains quickly. Derek unhappily turns up the channel.

Frowny Yet Still Too Fucking Smiley College Kid doesn’t actually _listen_ to the radio, though.

“Brazil played Croatia on Opening night,” he says. Derek struggles to find it within himself to give a shit.

“Sounds fun,” Derek deadpans as he takes a left turn.

Sporty College Kid looks at him funny. “It wasn’t,” he disagrees promptly, shaking his head.

Derek rolls his eyes and doesn’t reply, hoping that this conversation will return to a non-conversation.

“Then- _then_ ,” Sporty College Kid exaggerates, waving his right hand in the air. “Mexico played Cameroon and Dos Santos scored two goals for Mexico but they were disallowed because he was offside, when really he wasn’t offside at all.”

So no hope of not having to engage in anymore conversation, then. Derek doesn’t know what offside means, doesn’t really care to know it means so he just nods and agrees, “he wasn’t.”

“What team do you think will win?” Chatty College Kid wonders and rubs his hand against his chin. “I think Germany, or Brazil, maybe Holland and France too.”

Derek doesn’t know what team could win because Derek doesn’t know what teams are in the World Cup.

“Although you know what? Any team could win, because it’s the World Cup and you don’t know what could happen at the World Cup, dude,”Chatty College Kid continues. He grazes his tongue along his teeth as he talks. “I mean, Spain won four years ago and they lost against Holland last night, so you don’t really know, you know? That’s what’s so great about it.”

He looks at Derek then like he’s expecting Derek to say something but he doesn’t, so Sporty College Kid continues to talk about some player named Casillas that Derek really couldn’t care less about.

Derek spends the rest of the drive trying to drown the kid out and focuses instead on the amount of beer he’s going to drink at dinner tonight. It helps--a little.

______

Isaac laughs - honest to God, open mouthed, loudly laughs - three days later when Derek tells him that he can’t pick a College Kid up because he recognises the address from the chatty one and _he’s too loud and energetic and I want to punch him in the mouth every time he talks_. “He can’t be _that_ bad, Derek,” Isaac insists at the same time as Derek hears him shuffling through some papers through the phone.

Derek grunts in response as he unlocks his car. “Maybe not to you, you like sports. You should pick him up instead,” Derek tries to reason. He hears someone shout ‘he already has a customer, so stop being a pussy and pick the kid up’ and then Isaac is snorting loudly into his ear. “Is that Erica?”

Isaac is still laughing when he says, “Can’t. I have to pick someone up in,” there’s a pause while Isaac (Derek presumes) looks at his watch, “Five minutes at Beacon Hills Cafe. Also Erica says you should man the fu-”

“I heard what she said,” Derek snaps, turning right at the traffic lights and setting the gears back to one while he drives up the hill to Beacon Hills Community College.

There’s some fumbling on the other line accompanied by a ‘ow! what the fuck are you doing?’ from Isaac and a ‘give me the phone, you dumbass’ from Erica and then Erica is declaring, “Isaac has to go now, and so do you. Have a nice day, Derek,” and hanging up.

Derek throws his phone into the glove compartment and slams it shut in frustration. He hates his friends-- _hates them._

_______

He’s two minutes away from the college when he decides that he’s not going to listen to Hyperenergetic College Kid rant about football again, so he turns off the radio and plans to tell him that it’s broken if he asks.

He’s standing in the same place as the previous time; this time without any books or the thick rimmed glasses, but Derek can see the outline of contacts around his irises if he looks hard enough. Derek thinks the glasses suit him better, also wishes he was wearing the flannel shirt rather than the red t-shirt he has on this time.

Hyperenergetic College Kid gets in and just like the first time, he pulls two ten dollar notes out of his pocket -along with some gum that Derek thinks must be at least two weeks old- and places them on the dashboard before smiling at Derek.

Neither of them say anything for the first five minutes, with Derek following the GPS’ directions and the kid playing on his phone--he seems to be texting someone, because every so often it’ll beep and then he’ll laugh loudly and type something back. Derek eventually sneaks a glance at Hyperenergetic College Kid’s phone, because he’s kind of curious, and manages to  catch the first bit of a text which reads ‘ _Stiles :(_ ‘ before the kid tilts the screen away from Derek’s view. It’s from someone named Scott, and Derek figures that Hyperenergetic Kid is either called Stiles or they’re talking about someone else named Stiles--Derek kind of hopes for the kid’s sake that it’s the latter.

Possibly Named Stiles types another text and then puts his phone away before he crosses his legs and smiles at Derek. “Can you turn on the radio?” he asks as he puts a piece of gum into his mouth and leans back into the chair.

Derek scowls at the ‘no chewing gum’ sign that’s stuck to the windshield. “It’s broken,” he counters flatly and then, “Can you not read?” while gesturing to the sign with his right hand.

Possibly Named Stiles’ eyes widen and he quickly takes the piece of gum out of his mouth and squishes it against his fingers. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t see it,” he tells him honestly. He then pulls out his phone, clicks on an and app and adds, “Also that’s cool, I’ll just use my phone to listen to it.”

Derek is still focused on the piece of chewed gum that Possibly Named Stiles has between his fingers. “Can you please do something with that?” He gestures to the piece of gum and then to the entire inside of his car.

Possibly Named Stiles nods vigorously and then fumbles to get the gum from between his fingers. “Right, no chewing gum in the car; got it,” he says and then he’s frantically looking between the car and Derek. “Is there somewhere I can throw it?” he asks, looking frazzled.

Derek glares at him. “Put it into your pocket, or throw it out the window. I don’t care,” he responds, annoyed.

Possibly Named Stiles pulls the used wrapper from his pocket and wraps the gum in it, then Derek rolls down the left window. Possibly Named Stiles quickly throws the gum out, being careful to throw it hard enough so it doesn’t end up stuck to the car and then smiles sheepishly at Derek. “Sorry about that,” he apologises, seeming awfully interested in a strand of loose fabric on his shirt.

Derek gives him a stiff nod. Possibly Named Stiles then takes out his phone and clicks on a radio app. The sports channel blares through the car a few seconds later, and Derek bangs his head against the headrest of his seat--hard.

Possibly Named Stiles doesn’t notice. “Germany played Portugal last night but you probably already know that,” He licks his lips. “It was so _awesome_ though, wasn’t it? Germany kicked Portugal’s butt and it was beautiful to watch. Müller’s hat trick was gold, too and Hummels’ goal kicked ass. Pepe was so childish though, wasn’t he? I don’t see how purposely getting himself a red card was going to help his team,” he concludes, shaking his head then to emphasize his point.

Derek grips the steering wheel and replies through gritted teeth, “Such a shame.”

Possibly Named Stiles hums and clicks something on his phone. “Podolski played pretty well too, even though he only came on for like, ten minutes at the end of the game,” He says, clapping his hands and grinning. “I was disappointed that Schweinsteiger didn’t play, but he’ll probably play against Ghana.”

Derek wants to ask how the kid is managing to pronounce these names because really, they’re absolutely diabolical. He drums one hand against the steering wheel and doesn’t say anything in response. He looks over at Possibly Named Stiles instead and notices, not for the first time, that he’s actually pretty attractive. He quickly shakes that thought and averts his eyes back to the road.

“My grandfather is German,” Possibly Named Stiles reveals suddenly. “That’s why I’m supporting Germany. He moved here when he met my grandmother we still have family living in Germany. I’m hoping to move there when I graduate from college in two years,” he has a look on his face all of a sudden, one that Derek thinks looks like sadness or longing but it’s gone as soon as it comes and is replaced by a smile.

Derek tilts his head to the side and tells him, “I wanted to move to England when I was your age.”

Possibly Named Stiles smiles at him, then unlocks his phone and starts texting again, occasionally laughing and mumbling things like ‘god that’s a good one’ and ‘shut up’ to himself. Derek notes that he has a laugh that probably makes everyone else laugh even if the joke isn’t funny just because his laugh is so nice.

Derek doesn’t ask who he’s texting, but a few minutes later Possibly Named Stiles is shoving his phone back into his pocket and turning to look at Derek anyway. “It’s Scott,” he informs Derek, “my best friend. He doesn’t live in Beacon Hills so I don’t get to see him much, only when I’m not busy with college. Like today.”

Derek nods again and doesn’t say anything, making the conversation non-existent for the rest of the ride.

______

Derek blames Laura for what happens the third time. Really, it’s all her fault. He’s finished his shift and is on his way home when he gets a call from her and he stupidly answers it. “What do you want Laura?” he asks.

“You have a customer,” she drawls, clicking her tongue between her teeth. “‘Asked for you specifically.”

Derek pulls over so he won’t be caught for using his phone while driving and scowls, “Why the fuck would they ask for me specifically?”

“I don’t know Derek, maybe they think you’re interesting,” she replies sarcastically.

“I am interesting,” he says flatly. “But my shift is over so unfortunately I can’t pick them up.” He leans forward and straightens his taxi ID so it’s facing forward again.

“He,” she corrects promptly. He hears a key turning in a door and heels clicking against tiled floor along with a string of ‘see you tomorrow, boss,’ from Laura’s co workers. He almost scowls then, because at this rate she’s going to be home before him and that means he’ll have to eat cold spaghetti for dinner. Then he hears her stop walking and she continues with, “Also you have to. ‘Always please the customers’ and all that shit you came up with when you first started this business.”

“I was eighteen Laura,” he argues, but he starts the car again anyway. “You can’t hold that against me forever.” He knows Laura is going to hold that against him until the day he dies. He even got a piece of paper and wrote: _first rule of Wolfin’ Cabs - always please the customer_ on it and stuck it to the wall. He took it down after he turned twenty but Derek suspects that Laura kept it.

He passes a group of teenagers sitting outside Beacon Hill’s Cafe who wave at him when he passes and he nods dismissively in response. “Laura I have to go, I’m almost at the college,” he informs her.

“Okay,” she agrees, “I’ll see you at home.”

The line goes dead and Derek sighs in relief. Laura is one of the best people Derek knows and he loves her to death, but sometimes he wishes that he could click his fingers and she’d just stop talking.

_____

There’s a skinny kid sitting on a bench when Derek drives up, and it takes him all of five seconds to recognize the short hair and the thick rimmed glasses. It’s almost dark, so it’s harder to see but there’s no mistaking the goofy smile and the over exaggerated wave the kid gives. Then, he wants to punch Possibly Named Stiles in the face and leave him there to walk home.

He throws what Derek assumes is an empty cup of coffee into the bin before he pushes his glasses back to the bridge of his nose and gets into the car. He greets Derek the same way he’s done twice before; a chirpy hello and two ten dollar notes on the dashboard. This time, though, Derek manages to catch a glimpse of the red bracelet that he has on his wrist and finds out that his name is, in fact, Stiles.

“Why did you specifically ask for me?” Derek doesn’t even let the kid put his seatbelt on before he’s asking. He shoves the money into his pocket and overtakes a car that’s going far too slow to be driving on the main road. “I had just finished my shift.”

Stiles looks a little taken aback by Derek’s bluntness for about three seconds before he’s smiling again. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know your shift was over. I wouldn’t have asked for you if I did,” he says sheepishly.

Derek makes a grunting noise in response before saying, “that doesn’t answer why you asked directly for me.”

Stiles sighs and starts fiddling with his hands. “You listen to me when I talk about stuff and you don’t tell me to shut up, even when I can tell that it annoys you because you scowl at the road the entire time I’m in the car with you,” he smiles slightly at Derek. “The only other person who’s like that with me is Scott. It’s nice I guess,” he continues. He looks nervous the entire time he’s talking, and he doesn’t look up from his hands at all.

“Oh,” Derek mumbles, suddenly feeling a little bit flattered. He’d like to ask why people don’t like listening to him but he’s pretty sure he already knows the answer, even if he might be warming up to Stiles more than he’d like.

Stiles doesn’t say anything after that and they drive in silence again. He looks so awkward and uncomfortable and Derek can’t stand looking at him like that because even though it does annoy him, he prefers when he’s smiling and harping on about something so he turns on the radio to get him to just _talk_. He thinks he might be going insane.

“I used to play soccer you know,” Stiles declares just as the radio spokesperson starts talking about Spain being the fifth defending champions to be knocked out of the World Cup in the first round. “In high school. I played midfield and I co-captained the team with Scott. Man I loved it, and I was good too, you know? Like really good, but then I started college and I had to choose between that and being a teacher. My mum used to tell me I would be a teacher when I was older, so I dropped soccer.” He doesn’t say it, but the way that Stiles says ‘my mum used to’ let’s Derek know that his mother isn’t around anymore.

Derek nods. He gets it, maybe not in that exact way but he gets it. He had to give up his dreams of being a scientist to hold his family together when his parents died, so he understands what it’s like to have to give up something you really care about. “It’s good to have something that you’re passionate about in life - I’m sorry you had to give it up,” he says honestly.

Stiles shrugs at him. “It’s cool,” he says, blinking twice at Derek. “Do you watch it? Soccer, I mean.”

“Sometimes,” Derek tells him. It’s a lie, and he doesn’t realise that he’s telling it until it’s out of his mouth and he can’t take it back. Derek is pretty sure that he’s only watched one football game ever in his life and he didn’t understand a single damn thing while doing so.

Stiles seems to brighten up when he says it, though. “Really? What team do you support?” he asks and not for the first time in his life, Derek wants to punch himself in the face.

“America,” he replies and he’s not even sure if America are _in_ the World Cup, but he thinks he heard Cora shout something about it a few nights ago so he figures it’s the safest option. “Gotta stand by my country.” They pass a woman that Derek recognises because she sometimes gets taxis from him, and he nods when she smiles brightly at him.

“Oh yeah!” Stiles claps his hands together and beams at Derek. “They’re playing again on Saturday, right? I’m staying at Scott’s until Sunday so maybe we can talk about it then if you’re working,” he says, rubbing his hands along his pants as if he’s nervous.

Derek is so relieved to know that America are actually in the World Cup that he nods without even thinking about it. When he pulls up outside of Scott’s and Stiles gets out of the car with a ‘see you on Sunday, dude!’, Derek realises that he’s screwed.

Also that he should probably tell Stiles that his name isn’t ‘dude’ or ‘man’.

_______

Derek spends all of Thursday and half of Friday trying to figure the game out. He looks up YouTube videos, wikipedias, and even considers going to the library because there would surely be something in the sports section that could help him. Derek realises that he is thoroughly pathetic. It shouldn’t be so hard to just understand a few rules of a damn game and learn a few players’ names. He suddenly regrets not playing soccer in high school.

He’s eating dinner with Cora and Laura when he finally gives in and asks for Cora’s help. Laura almost chokes on a piece of chicken, Cora just looks amused.

“You want to learn about soccer?” Cora smirks at him, and Laura suddenly looks more interested in their conversation than in whoever she’s been texting for the last twenty minutes.

Derek frowns at both of them. “Yes, why is that so surprising?”

“Well you don’t really like sports, Der,” Laura picks up her glass of wine. “Why are you suddenly interested?” she raises an eyebrow at him.

“I watch sports,” Derek argues. “I watch darts all the time, and I sometimes watch tennis. I even watched a bit of archery on Tuesday.” He puts his fork down and crosses his arms.

“ _Contact_ sports,” Cora rolls her eyes. She chews on a carrot and says, “I’m not helping you unless you tell me why you suddenly want to learn about soccer.”

It’s times like this that Derek wishes that he was an only child. He grips the side of his chair, braces himself then says, “There’s a guy.” Laura looks so shocked that Derek is pretty sure he should feel offended. “I drive him around sometimes and he talks about soccer a lot, like all the damn time. And he asked asked me if I like it so I said yes, told him that I’m supporting America so I need to be able to actually talk about it,” he mumbles the last bit and coughs embarrassedly into his fist.

Cora laughs, and really, he wasn’t expecting anything else, but Laura looks at him with a look of pure happiness and admiration that makes him feel slightly uncomfortable. “What?” he snaps.

“You have a crush,” Laura says in delight, twirling a piece of brown hair between her fingers. “It took twenty six years but my brother has a crush.”

“I do not have a crush,” he says defensively. Stiles might have pretty eyes, and lips that Derek sometimes wants to kiss and he might actually be beginning to like the sound of Stiles’ voice and want to hear it more often, but Derek does not have a crush. He’s too old to have a crush.

Laura rolls her eyes tiredly. “You want to learn about a sport that you have absolutely no interest in just to impress him, you have a crush,” she insists, crossing her legs and then she leans forward in her chair, smiling at him.

Derek can feel heat burning his cheeks then, he curses under his breath because this was not how it was supposed to go and he doesn’t want to talk to his sisters about his possible crush on a kid that is going to college and is possibly not even eighteen yet (Derek is pretty sure that he’s at least nineteen like Cora, but still). Derek is so screwed. “I want to learn about it so he doesn’t think I’m an idiot. It’s a matter of pride,” he lies, rubbing his hand over his face angrily.

Cora raises an eyebrow at him and taps her fingers along the table. “Okay, maybe I want to impress him a little bit,” he mumbles. He has never been so embarrassed in his entire life when Laura squeals and Cora outright laughs at him--again.

“What’s his name?” Cora asks as she pushes her plate into the middle of the table and grabs her laptop from the couch. She opens it and presses the power button.

Derek doesn’t want them to know Stiles’ name, because as soon as they know it they’ll stalk him on every single social media website and they will not leave Derek alone. Cora will probably even find a way to get his number. “Zelig,” It’s out of Derek’s mouth before he can can even think to reconsider it.

Cora looks like she’s caught between being absolutely bewildered and absolutely amused. “Zelig?” she repeats slowly.

“It’s a nickname. He’s German.” Derek wants to die. He wants to dig himself a nice big hole in the ground, tie a giant rock to himself and fall into it. Maybe he’ll take Stiles with him because this is all his fault. Plus, death would probably be much easier if Derek couldn’t think about it over Stiles’ rambling and flailing. So yeah, he’ll take Stiles.

“Why would you willingly choose Zelig as a nickname?” Laura asks, looking awfully like she’s trying to hold back a laugh.

“I don’t know Laura, I’ll make sure to ask him next time I see him,” Derek snaps, frustrated. He turns to Cora and looks at her pointedly. “Are you going to help me or not?”

Cora waves a hand towards her laptop screen and glares at him. “I’ve had videos explaining everything you need to know loaded for the past five minutes, Der,” she grunts.

Derek nods without a word and pushes his chair closer towards Cora’s at the same time as Cora tilts the laptop more to the left so Derek can see better. Once they’re both ready, she clicks play on the first video.

The first video explains offside, and Derek makes Cora replay it at least thirteen times because he _does not understand_. He tells Cora that he’s already done this himself and she laughs, then tells him to shut up. Derek still doesn’t understand after 30 minutes and Cora aggressively x’s out of the tab and just explains it herself. “Basically, if you’re on the other team’s side of the field without either the ball or two defending players in front of you -and the goalkeeper does count as one of those players, and then you make a go for the ball, you are offside,” she explains. Derek is quick to ask why she hadn’t just explained it herself in the first place; it earns him a slap on the arm.

Derek is quick to pick up on everything after that, but it still takes them about two hours to get through it all. Once they have all the laws and rules of play covered Cora teaches him the names of the players from the American team, as well as a few other players too incase ‘Zelig’ wants to talk about things in detail. Derek knows he will.

“Derek?” Cora says after she’s shut down her laptop and stands up.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t screw up.” Derek doesn’t know if she’s talking about Stiles or him saying something wrong when he’s talking about soccer, but he nods anyway.

______

Derek waits until the America match is ten minutes into play before he stalks out of his room and sits next to Cora on the couch. He grabs the remote from her hands, then points at one of the players and asks, “That’s Dempsey, right?”

Cora laughs at him for a good five minutes.

______

Derek has five minutes left of his shift when he realises that maybe Stiles hadn’t been serious about getting a ride from him so they could talk about the game, and he suddenly feels awfully stupid. He spent three whole days learning about a sport that he couldn’t care less about just to impress a loud mouthed, stupidly beautiful teenage boy that he’s only met three times. It was like Stiles said jump and Derek said how high and he’s so angry at himself for having a stupid crush.

And Stiles is probably straight anyway, Derek remembers seeing that picture of Stiles and the girl with the strawberry blonde hair on the first day and they looked stupidly happy with each other so yeah, Stiles is probably straight and he more than likely has a girlfriend.

Derek scowls at everyone who passes while he sits in his car and angrily plays Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Some of them give him a look in return, more of them just awkwardly smile, wave back and then walk on. It makes Derek feel even worse so he concentrates on getting to Kim’s house to complete this task so he can become a C list celebrity instead. He’s just about to click on the bus stop when his phone rings and he runs out of energy.

He glares at the screen for as long as he can without missing the call before he picks up. “What.” he snaps frustratedly.

“Derek, thank God!” Laura exclaims, either not noticing or decidedly ignoring the tone of Derek’s voice. “I knew you were almost finished your shift so I didn’t know if you’d answer, but I need you to pick up a guy from 37 Anarchy Road, Beacon Heights and bring him back here. He asked for you again.”

Derek almost says ‘Stiles?’ but quickly covers it up with a cough. Stiles. It makes Derek feel a bit better, but now that he’s put the idea of Stiles having a girlfriend in his head he can’t shake it. “Okay,” he says, already driving out of town to Beacon Heights.

Laura hums and then adds, “You might also want to tell him your name. ‘The dark brooding one that constantly looks like he wants to kill me but is actually quite nice and really attractive’ isn’t really going to cut it if you ever get the balls to ask him out and he wants to introduce you to his family.”

Derek accidentally jerks his knee against the gear stick in surprise and his cheeks feel like they’re on fire. Stiles thinks he’s attractive--really attractive and maybe he isn’t straight after all. “Laura,” he hisses, fighting a smile smile. “How do you even know that he’s the guy?”

Laura makes a noise that sounds like the mixture of a laugh and a scoff and then replies, “He’s the only person who has ever specifically asked for you--and he did it twice. He asked for you _twice_ , Derek.”

That does nothing to help the blush he’s sporting. He feels ridiculously like a seventeen year old boy. He shakes his head and argues, “Maybe he just thinks I’m good company.”

Laura snorts loudly into his ear and he jerks back into his seat. Then, she says, “No one thinks you’re good company, Der. Except Zelig, apparently.”

Derek doesn’t fight the smile this time, and he’s grinning when he replies, “Yeah, well.”

______

Stiles is standing with a guy that looks to be about Stiles’ age; Scott, probably, and Derek gets momentarily disheartened until Stiles does a ‘bro shake’ with Possibly Scott and then walks away. Possibly Scott gives a quick wave to Derek in which Derek responds to with a nod, and then he walks back into his house. Stiles grins brightly at Derek as he gets into the car. He does what he usually does and then he fastens his seat belt, pulling on it to make sure that it’s secure.

Derek puts the car into reverse as he blurts, “Derek.”

Stiles looks at him confusedly. “What?” he replies, turning his body as much as he can so he can properly look at Derek.

My name,” he shrugs halfheartedly. “It’s Derek. Laura told me how you describe me, I thought Derek would be easier.” He reaches over and turns on the radio, flicking straight to the sports channel and turns the volume down until it’s loud enough to listen to but low enough so that they can still talk.

When he looks at Stiles again, he’s blushing and is frantically trying to look really concentrated in the cuffs of his plaid shirt. “She told you what I said?” He glares at the twenty dollars on the dashboard.

"Yeah.” Derek turns left at the bright purple sign welcoming them back into Beacon Hills and then stops at the red light. Stiles is still fidgeting with his shirt and Derek can’t stop thinking about he wants to reach over and grab his hand, tell him it’s okay because Derek likes that Stiles thinks he’s attractive.

A car honks and Derek looks up only to realise that the lights have gone green and Stiles is looking at him strangely. “You okay?” Stiles worries, having stopped playing with his shirt and instead is drumming them along both sides of the chair.

Derek gulps and starts driving again. “Yes,” he says, focusing on the road in favour of letting himself gaze at Stiles.

Stiles then reaches out and turns up the radio as he asks, “What did you think of the game?” Derek knows what he’s supposed to reply because he spent all day yesterday planning it, but Stiles holds out a hand and continues, “America should have definitely won because they were the better team, and they fought harder for it so I was kind of gutted when it was a draw. I was happy for Ronaldo though.”

Derek doesn’t know much about Ronaldo other than what Cora told him, which was nothing more than ‘he plays for Portugal and he’s really fucking talented, Derek’, but he nods in agreement anyway. “I was full sure we had it won when it went into the last minute though.”

Stiles exaggeratedly swings an arm and practically shouts, “Me too dude! I was already up and cheering when Portugal scored.” He makes a face that Derek thinks is kind of adorable. “But at least they can they can still qualify if Portugal don’t win their last game by like, five goals. Germany are definitely going to kick America’s butt next Thursday though.”

Derek scoffs even though he’s pretty sure that Stiles is right. “Hey, we’re actually pretty good. I reckon we could win,” he argues lightly.

Stiles grins widely at him. “Germany are better and you know it.” Derek shakes his head but smiles a little. Then Stiles says, “We should watch it together.”

Derek’s hands freeze on the steering wheel and he tries really hard not to look at Stiles while he panics to find an answer. Stiles wants to watch a game with him. He repeatedly opens his mouth and then closes it again because nothing he wants to say sounds right.

Stiles seems to notice because he suddenly starts shaking his head at such a high speed that Derek worries he’s going to get dizzy. “We don’t have to, I just meant that we uh, we could, but we don’t have - I mean we, we won’t. I have plans anyway.” He blushes and rubs a hand over his face.

Derek feels like he’s been kicked in the gut. Yeah, okay.”

There’s silence again and Derek is left wishing that he could jump out of his own skin and get rid of these stupid feelings that are surrounding him because he doesn’t want to get hurt. It’s stupid, but he got hurt enough with Kate and he doesn’t want to put himself or his sisters through that again.

Neither of them turn down the radio so the only noise in the car is some spokesperson talking about the upcoming games for that night. Stiles keeps fidgeting and sighing, occasionally looking at Derek like he wants to say something and then quickly looking forward when Derek meets his eye. Derek wants to reach out and hold him, ask him what’s bothering him and then keep asking until he tells him because Derek just needs _something_.

He drives faster and keeps his hands to himself instead.

_____

Derek pulls up outside of Stiles’ house five minutes later and Stiles nearly falls over himself while trying to get out of the car as quickly as he can. “Uh, bye, I’ll see you tomorrow I ho-I guess,” he gives Derek an awkward smile accompanied by a half wave, then slams the door shut and runs into his house.

Derek bangs his head against the steering wheel until he has a headache.

______

Derek avoids Stiles the next day. He avoids him on Monday and Tuesday too. He forces Isaac to swap timetables with him so he’s always busy when Laura or Erica ask him to pick ‘Zelig’ up and if he’s not he says he’s too far out of town to make it back in time so Erica does it instead.

He doesn’t mope because he’s not a teenage girl but he doesn’t exactly _not_ mope either. He snaps at home a lot and when he’s at work he doesn’t talk to anyone, which okay, he didn’t talk much before but he’s even worse now.

He feels ridiculous; avoiding Stiles because he has a crush on him, but he plans to keep doing it until his feelings go away. He still doesn’t know if Stiles has a girlfriend and if Derek made a move on Stiles and he didn’t feel the same way, Stiles could file a report and Derek would lose his business and Erica and Isaac would lose their jobs. He doesn’t think that Stiles would do that but it’s better to be safe than sorry and anyway, he won’t avoid Stiles forever.

Laura confronts him about it Tuesday night while Derek is sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal and playing Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. He’s in the middle of a photoshoot for Pop Glam and he’s running out of energy with little time left, so he’s already feeling annoyed when she snaps the phone of his hands and sits down next to him. “What the hell? Give me back my fucking phone Laura,” he growls, making a grab for it. She moves it out of his reach and glares at him.

“What did you do to Zelig?” Laura accuses, arms crossed against her chest. Derek’s mouth twitches a bit at the use of Stiles’ fake name for a second and then he glares at her.

“How do you know that I did something?” he responds defensively.

Laura quirks an eyebrow at him and replies, “Because you’re always angry and brooding.”

“I didn’t do anything.” He runs a hand through his hair and looks at her helplessly, “I like him and I don’t know if he feels the same way. I don’t even know if he’s straight and I don’t want to be in a position like that, it’s bad for me and it could have a negative effect on my business.”

Laura’s expression softens for about three whole seconds before she’s leaning over and slapping him across the head. “You idiot.” She slaps him again for good measure and then adds, “Of course he likes you. Christ Der, he rang the taxi rank twice today looking for you. Erica said that when she told him that Isaac would pick him up instead he sighed and suddenly didn’t need a taxi anymore. Then he rang back two hours later and did the same thing. He’s pining almost as bad as you are.”

“I am not pining,” Derek argues. Then he smiles and asks, “He really did that?”

Laura rolls her eyes and flicks her hair over her shoulder, replying, “Yes, you absolute dumbass. He probably knows you’ve been avoiding him too.” Derek frowns at that. She pats his shoulder and smiles softly, “Call him.”

Derek gives her a _you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me_ look. “I don’t have his number,” he says drily. He raises an eyebrow when she pulls out her phone and hands it to him while grinning.

“I programmed it into my phone after he called for the second time today,” she says proudly. “Just incase. It’s under Stiles.” She laughs open mouthed at Derek’s expression, licks her lips and then says, “Please, Derek. Did you really think that I believed his name was Zelig? One, he doesn’t sound German and two, all customers are required to give their names when looking for a taxi; you also made that rule eight years ago.”

Derek is mortified. He should have known that Laura would have known Stiles’ name even before he did because he had enforced that rule eight years ago and they’ve been stressing to follow it ever since. It’s easier to keep track of customers when you know their name. He covers his face with his hands and mumbles, “You knew this entire time and you didn’t think to just tell me?”

Laura shrugs and smirks at him, “I wanted to see how long it would take you to either slip up or just crack and tell me.” She stands up and gestures towards her phone in his hand, “Call him.”

“I can’t.” He shakes his head and reaches the phone out so she can take it.

She looks at the phone like she thinks it will burn her if she takes it. Then she narrows her eyes at him and asks, “Why not?” She puts one hand on her hip and puts his phone into her pocket with the other.

Derek stares at said pocket and sighs, “Can I have my phone back? I wouldn’t know what to say if I called him.”

“Ask him to hang out.” She gives him a _duh_ look and grabs her phone from him, dials something and then throws it back at him. He barely catches it before she says, “It’s ringing. You’ll get your phone back once it’s done; I’m sure Kim Kardashian can wait,” and then walks out.

______

Derek and Stiles talk on the phone for over an hour.

Derek thinks Stiles is going to choke to death when he answers and Derek greets him with an awkward hello. Derek hears a bang and then Stiles is talking in a string of curse words and _ow fuck shit what the fuck Lydia it’s Derek_ that Derek probably isn’t supposed to hear before Stiles clears his throat and says, “Derek? What the hell?”

Derek scratches helplessly at the back of his head, having lost every small ounce of confidence he had once he heard Stiles’ voice and stammers out an agonizing, “Uh, yeah. Stiles. Hi Stiles.”

“How did you get my number?” Stiles sounds angry, or at least slightly annoyed. Derek wishes he could hang up and pretend this conversation never happened. He is never speaking to Laura again after this.

Derek sits back and crosses his legs on the couch and then answers, “Laura saved it to her phone today after you called the second time looking for me. She gave it to me just now so I could call you.” He rubs his fingers over a small coffee stain on the couch and immediately thinks about taking Stiles on a date to his favourite coffee shop downtown. It would be nice because Derek goes there every day so he knows which coffee is the best kind, what sandwiches and muffins are the nicest and maybe he could impress Stiles enough to want to go out with him on a second date.

Stiles makes a strangling noise, and Derek tries really hard not to think about how he’s probably flailing his arms around whatever room he’s standing in. “I wasn’t just looking for _you_ ,” he blows a puff of air down the phone. “I needed a ride.” Derek doesn’t point out that he didn’t actually take the ride once he found out that Derek wasn’t there.

Instead he crosses his fingers and blurts out, “Do you really have plans for the game on Thursday?” before he can overthink it and psych himself out.

“Yeah.” Derek sits up then, feeling discouraged and removes the phone from his ear to hang up. “But,” Stiles adds hurriedly, “it’s just Scott so I can cancel them if you want to hang out instead? I’m sure it’d be fine as long as Allison can watch it with him instead.”

Derek never prays but right now he feels like getting down on his knees and thanking God for the rest of his life. “Yeah. Yeah, that’d be cool,” he says happily. “We can watch it at mine? Or we can go to the bar at the end of the town?” he suggests, he doesn’t care where they watch it as long as Stiles is with him.

Stiles goes unusually quiet for a minute and by the time Derek realises his mistake, Stiles is sighing and quietly responding, “I can’t. I’m not legal until next March, but you can go without me if you wa-”

“No,” Derek interrupts abruptly. At least Stiles isn’t eighteen or nineteen like he had initially thought. “We can watch it at my place instead. My sisters will be here but we could watch it in my room,” Derek blushes after he realised how that sounded and he immediately adds, “I mean, I have a television in my room and it’d be better than all four of us crowding around the one in the sitting room.”

Stiles laughs in the way that Derek loves and Derek kind of hopes that he can make Stiles laugh like that for a long time. His shoulders relax and he grins as Stiles replies, “No that sounds good. Maybe we can watch a movie afterwards?” Derek doesn’t miss the the way Stiles’ voice goes an octave higher than usual. “Like a Marvel movie.”

Derek snorts and replies, “DC is so much better.” He looks at his collection of DC DVDs and comics that sit safely in a glass cabinet next to the television and scowls at the thought of Stiles preferring Marvel. Derek is a closeted nerd and he has lived and breathed for DC as long as he can remember; Marvel doesn’t even compare in his opinion.

“No way!” Stiles disagrees. Derek hears what sounds like Stiles shuffling through a cupboard and then he’s adding, “Marvel have X-Men, Spider-Man, Wiccan, Captain America, Thor, Iron Ma--they have _the avengers_ , Derek.”

Derek rolls his eyes and doesn’t miss a beat, “Batman, Superman, Cat Woman, Black Canary, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Vibe, Green Arrow, Flash, Speedy, Aquaman, Robin.” He walks over to his comics and pulls out Flash #1 and repeats, “Flash, Stiles.”

“Naming more superheroes than I did doesn’t prove anything,” Stiles says stubbornly; Derek tries really hard not to smile. “How about this--we watch the game, then a Marvel and a DC movie?”

That’s at least seven hours Derek gets to spend with Stiles, and he doesn’t need to be asked twice. “Deal.”

______

Derek is pacing. He has been pacing while aggressively playing Kim Kardashian: Hollywood for the past half hour because Stiles is coming over to watch the game, they’re going to be alone in Derek’s room and Derek is so incredibly _nervous_. He’s been in his room at least four times already to clean it because he kept finding something that didn’t look nice enough for Stiles. He even went shopping to get  an eight pack of coca cola and a bunch of junk food because Stiles seems like someone who enjoys junk food while watching games, Derek wants to make sure he’s comfortable.

Laura has spent the last fifteen minutes sitting on the couch laughing at him, while Cora leaves the kitchen every so often and rolls his eyes at him then walks back into the kitchen. The last time she came out she threw a condom at him and said _be safe, Der_ then gave him a pointed look and stalked back into the kitchen. Derek growled furiously at her, Laura rolled from one side of the couch to the other in a fit of laughter.

“Oh my God Der, you need to calm down,” she told him once she’d calmed down enough to be able to speak. Derek growled some more.

______

Stiles sends Derek a text to him that he’s walking up the driveway and Derek nearly trips over the coffee table in a rush to answer the door before Laura. He glares at her and strictly points to the sitting room because he is not going to have his older sister standing over his shoulder the first time he meets Stiles outside of a taxi cab. Laughing, she shakes her head and walks away while whistling ‘whipped’ until she’s out of his hearing range.

Derek looks at himself in the mirror, then does a double take before deciding that he probably looks as good as he’s going to and opens the door. He takes one look at Stiles and the giant bag of doritos in his hand and immediately laughs, feeling relaxed. “You bought your own snacks?” he asks incredulously.

Stiles shrugs and shimmies his way inside, grinning at Derek. “I need junk food for the game, Derek,” he replies. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a giant Hersheys chocolate bar and waves it at Derek before ripping open the packaging. He stuffs two whole squares into his mouth and then with a mouth full of chocolate, asks, “Do you want some?”

Derek looks at Stiles with an eyebrow raised and his lip quirked upwards, “No, and don’t talk with your mouth full.” He watches as Stiles swallows, breaks off another piece and then he adds, “I bought snacks for you, because that’s what people do when they invite someone over.”

“Oh,” Stiles mumbles, looking awfully bashful as he stuffs the bar into his pocket again. Then he playfully punches Derek on the shoulder and declares, “Well now we have more snacks. See, I’m always helping you. You should keep me around, Derek.”

Derek doesn’t object to the suggestion.

______

Germany beat USA by two goals to one. Derek would like to say that Germany didn’t deserve to win but they did, and Stiles gloats--like majorly gloats until Cora walks in and throws her favourite pillow at his head.

Stiles freezes mid happy dance and gapes openly at her. “Cora?” He questions, looking between Derek and Cora like some wheels are turning in his head and he’s finally solving a math problem that he never managed to solve before.

“Hi Stiles,” Cora deadpans, and then glares at him until she grabs her pillow and walks back out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Stiles looks at Derek and points an accusing finger at him. “Cora is your sister and you never told me?”

Derek ignores the part where Stiles and Derek only met two weeks ago so Derek didn’t know that Stiles knew who Cora was and asks, “You know Cora?”

“Uh huh,” Stiles nods as he flops back onto his pillow and turns his head to look at Derek. “She’s in like three of my classes at college,” he explains. He runs a hand through his hair and then grins at Derek again. His shirt rises slightly when he raises his arm and Derek doesn’t miss the tanned skin that it exposes. Derek wants to do things, _lots of things_ to that skin.

Derek clears his throat, suddenly feeling nervous and points to the Amazing Spider-Man DVD case lying on his desk, “You wanna watch?”

Stiles gets off the bed, nodding and reaches for the DVD. “What DC movie did you pick for after this?” He presses the ‘eject’ button on the player and slides the DVD inside. The television automatically switches to the AV channel and the disk loads as Stiles hops back onto the bed, this time sitting closer to Derek.

Derek smiles up at him, responding with, “Batman of course,” and then pushes Stiles down so he’s lying on his left shoulder with Derek’s arm wrapped around him as he presses play on the movie. Stiles makes a satisfied noise, and moves closer towards Derek’s body.

“I thought you hated me when we first met you know,” Stiles confesses quietly. He’s rubbing circles into Derek’s thigh with his thumb and Derek wants to just lean down and kiss him because his lips are _right there_ and he could if he really wanted to. “You were so grumpy.”

“I’m always grumpy,” Derek replies, and it occurs to him that they’re cuddling when he realises he’s been playing with Stiles’ hair since he laid back down. Then he continues, “But I wasn’t your biggest fan.” Although thinking back now, Derek can’t think of a single reason why. Derek likes the way he talks a lot about things he loves, and how he looks so happy when he does because that’s something that Derek never had. He likes how he’s awkward and dangly and flails a lot and makes jokes that aren’t funny but make Derek laugh anyway. He likes Stiles.

Stiles frowns, Derek remembers the time he called him Frowny College Kid before he knew his name and laughs a little, “I used to make up names for you in my head before I knew your name was Stiles.” The opening credits for the movie appear on the television, and Derek uses the remote to turn up the volume although Stiles seems more interested in Derek than in Peter Parker.

Fascinated, Stiles sits up and smirks at him, “Like what?” He pushes himself closer to Derek again so they’re sitting with their knees touching, and raises an eyebrow. “Were they nice names?”

Derek can only remember a few, but he’s too focused on Stiles’ lips to say anything other than ‘yes’ as he places one hand behind Stiles’ neck and wraps the other one in a fist full of Stiles’ shirt. Stiles looks wide eyed at him and struggles to find a suitable place for his hands as he tries to push Derek back against the headboard, Derek breathlessly laughs against Stiles cheek but he sits back and moves Stiles’ leg so he’s half straddling him anyway.

Derek leans forward and presses his mouth against Stiles’ without actually kissing him, closes his eyes and then opens them again to look at a smiling Stiles.

“I have been wanting to do this since I saw you that first day,” Stiles whispers against Derek’s lips, finally resting one hand on Derek’s cheek and the other on his chest.

Derek nods, moving his hands to Stiles’ hips and rubs circles on the exposed skin between his shirt and his jeans, “Me too.” He’s not sure who moves first, more than likely it was himself, but they’re kissing as soon as the words are out of his mouth. Stiles is nervous, Derek can tell because he let’s Derek lead him as soon as their lips touch, so Derek squeezes his hips and  traces his fingers across his torso.

Stiles moans and moves his hand from Derek’s chest to his neck, pulling him closer and trails his fingers through Derek’s hair in soft motions.

Derek thinks this is the happiest he’s been in a long while.

______

They’re dating for two months before Stiles suggests that Derek meet his dad and Scott while they’re watching The Flash pilot. Derek agrees because Stiles talks about how much Derek and his dad would get on everyday, and Derek knows that Stiles has been spending less time with Scott since they started dating. They agree on a Friday night, because the Sheriff is off duty (Derek did not take the news of Stiles’ dad being a Sheriff very well) and Derek manages to sweet talk Isaac into covering his shift.

Stiles warns Derek to dress casually, so Derek spends the forty five minutes before Stiles picks him up fretting over what’s casual and what’s not. In the end Laura throws a black button down shirt and a pair of jeans at him, claiming that it’s casual but not overly casual so Derek quickly throws them on and spends the remaining 15 minutes panicking about his hair. “I’m going to be sick,” he declares, once again washing the gel out of his hair because it’s not up to Derek’s standards.

Laura rolls her eyes and snatches the bottle of gel out his hand before he can squeeze anymore out. “Derek, your hair looks better down. Here,” She runs a hand through it to mess it up and then smiles at him, “that looks better. And stop freaking out, the Sheriff will love you and if Scott can be friends with Stiles then I’m sure he’s going to like you.”

Derek scowls at her before stalking out of the bathroom and picking up his phone to text Stiles. “You can’t be sure of that,” he disagrees worriedly. His phone beeps and he unlocks his phone to read _on my way!! dad is going to love u, don’t worry!!!!!! :) xx_ and he feels himself relaxing a bit when he shoves his phone into his pocket.“Sure, listen to him and not me,” Laura scoffs in mock offense. She hugs him then, and Derek scoffs jokingly as she says, “I’m so happy that you’re happy Der, you deserve it more than anyone I know.” She slaps him across the head.

Derek hugs her tighter because Laura is possibly the best person he knows and smiling, replies, “Thank you.” They break apart when they hear a car honk from outside and Laura shakes her head when Derek kisses her cheek and quickly runs out the door after muttering a quick _goodbye_ and _maybe don’t wait up._

“Your dad better like me,” Derek greets as soon as he gets into the car. He leans over and kisses Stiles before Stiles starts his jeep again. “And I can’t believe I let you talk me into allowing you to drive me to dinner, you got your license yesterday.” Stiles had begged and begged until Derek agreed because his dad had just bought him a jeep and Stiles finally didn’t have to bum rides of Derek anymore, (Derek stopped charging Stiles for his taxis after their second date) and Derek agreed just so he could kiss Stiles like he wanted to.

Stiles flips him off, “Hey, how am I supposed to learn to be a kick ass taxi driver like you if you don’t let me drive?” The car jolts forward when Stiles presses down on the brakes instead of the accelerator and Derek, never having put his seatbelt on, smacks his chest off the dashboard. Stiles laughs delightedly as he puts the car into gear and it moves forward this time. “You should know to put your seatbelt on Derek,” he scolds, but he’s smiling and reaching one hand over to rub at Derek’s chest.

Derek slaps his hand and demands that he keeps both hands on the steering wheel at all times. Stiles laughs some more.

______

They make it to Stiles’ house five minutes before dinner is supposed to be served up, and Derek is trying insanely hard to reassure himself that everything will be fine while Stiles squeezes his hand and leads him into the kitchen. He’s greeted by a middle aged man with his head almost inside of the oven and the guy that Derek identified as Scott drinking out of a milk carton straight from the fridge. Stiles clears his throat, and Mister Stilinski almost hits his head off the oven as he tries to hurriedly stand up.

“Dad, this is Derek,” Stiles says as he releases his hold on Derek’s hand and smiles at him reassuringly. Derek steps forward and accepts the hand Mister Stilinski holds out to shake, smiles warmly at him and then introduces himself as Derek.

Mister Stilinski grips onto their enclosed hands with his free one and nods at Derek, “It’s nice to finally meet you Derek, I’ve heard a lot about you.” Scott scoffs and mumbles ‘more than a lot’ to himself and then smiles sheepishly at Stiles when he glares at him. Mister Stilinski pulls Stiles into a quick hug, patting him on the back as Stiles playfully pokes him in the side.

Scott steps forward then and walks straight towards Derek in a way that he thinks is supposed to look threatening. He points a finger at Derek and says, “You break his heart and I’ll break your face, got it?”

Derek knows that he could take Scott apart in one blow if it really came down to it, but Stiles is looking between them with a grin that Derek has only seen Stiles do twice before so he nods firmly. “Got it.” He sticks his hand out for Scott to shake, Scott then smiles at him and gives Stiles a thumbs up.

Mister Stilinski walks over to the oven and slips oven mitts on. “Dinner’s almost ready so you two can go make yourselves comfortable in the sitting room, Scott can help me here,” he announces as he opens the oven and lifts out a dish full of chicken and roast broccoli. Scott makes a disappointed face but he nods at Stiles to reassure him that it’s fine, then picks up the pot of boiling potatoes and drains the water down the sink.

Derek thanks them both then follows Stiles out of the kitchen. “They’re nice,” he says, relieved, and grasps Stiles’ hand in his own again before they sit down, Stiles on Derek’s lap. Stiles leans his back onto Derek’s chest and hums, “Told you,” while playing with Derek’s fingers between his own.

“Scott likes you,” Stiles continues happily. He looks up at Derek and grins, “He only threatens the people he likes.” He rubs his thumb over Derek’s mouth, sighs, and then turns around in Derek’s lap so it’s easier to look at him.

“That’s reassuring,” Derek deadpans. “What does he do to the people he doesn’t like?” He raises an eyebrow as he wraps his free arm around Stiles’ waist and kisses his shoulder.

“Ignores them. Scott is too nice to hurt anybody,” he says. He grins brightly at Derek and pushes his face away when he tries to kiss Stiles’ neck. “Nuh uh.” He points to the kitchen and shakes his head at Derek. “Dad and best friend. In next room.”

Derek grunts as he leans his head against the back of the couch. He removes his hand from Stiles and crosses it over his chest. “Fine, but you won’t stop me once we get leave,” he promises.

Stiles wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at him. “You can kiss me when we get back to your place,” he agrees. “Lots, actually. You can kiss me lots.” He kisses Derek on the cheek then stands up and pulls the ends of his shirt down again. He grabs Derek’s arm and pulls him up without much protesting from Derek, then kisses him quickly on the lips.

Derek rolls his eyes. “You are so childish.” He pokes Stiles in the ribs and asks, “Should we join them in the kitchen?”

“Yeah,” Stiles nods. “They’re more than likely already serving it up now.” He pokes Derek back, then speed walks into the kitchen before Derek can react.

The Sheriff and Scott are laying the food on the table when Derek walks in, Stiles is sitting already sitting down and is harping onto his dad about the importance of chicken and gravy while the Sheriff rolls his eyes and nods whenever he feels it’s necessary to let Stiles know that he’s listening. Derek shakes his head at Stiles and takes the dish of carrots from Scott’s hands. “I can take these if you need to get anything else?” He suggests. Scott nods, giving him a grateful smile and then grabs the various sauces from the counter.

“I hope it’s okay,” Mister Stilinski directs at Derek once they’re all seated. Derek and Stiles are sitting at one side of the table, holding hands underneath so Scott and his dad can’t see, with them sitting on the other.

Derek nods as he uses a fork to put some chicken on his plate. “I’m sure it will be,” he assures. He swaps the bowl of chicken with Scott for the bowl of gravy and hands it to Stiles.

“So,” Scott says, looking at Derek. “Stiles says you watch soccer too?”

Derek gulps down the piece of potato he had in his mouth and nods warily. “Uh, yeah.” He didn’t prepare for this, if either of them start asking him questions he’s going to slip up. “Really only the World Cup though.”

Mister Stilinski nods and points his fork in the general direction of both Stiles and Derek. “The World Cup is great, but Stiles and I are also interested in the English Premier League. Both of us support Germany but he supports Liverpool while I support Chelsea, you can imagine the fights that causes.” Derek doesn’t know who either of those teams are because Stiles has never mentioned them before, but he forces out a laugh as he nods anyway.

Scott eyes him suspiciously, “You ever watch the English League?” He puts a piece of carrot into his mouth and ignores the curious look Stiles gives him.

“Uh, no.” Derek shakes his head. Then he smiles and says, “Like I said, I only watch the World Cup. I don’t really have time for soccer all year ‘round.” He looks at Stiles who’s raising an eyebrow at Scott.

Scott shrugs and says, “Just wondering. What team are you rooting for?”

“America,” Stiles answers before Derek can. He squeezes Derek’s hand then adds, “Have you seen the new episode of Hawaii Five-0 yet?”

That makes Scott completely forget his interrogation on Derek and both Scott and Stiles launch into a rather loud and dragged out discussion on Hawaii Five-0 while both Derek and Mister Stilinski sit quietly and finish their dinner.

______

“Derek and I can tidy up if you and Scott want to go watch some television,” Stiles offers once they’ve finished eating. “It’s only fair since you cooked.” He stands up and begins clearing the table of all empty plates and cutlery as Scott takes the last bite from his plate.

“Are you sure?” Mister Stilinski asks as he stands up and hands Stiles his plate. Derek watches as Stiles throws the remains into the trashcan and then stands up to help.

Derek nods. “Yeah, of course. You two rest for a bit, we’ll join you once we’re done.” Both Scott and Stiles’ dad stand up then, and Scott gives Stiles a one armed hug before he’s nodding politely at Derek and nearly running into the sitting room.

“Okay,” Mister Stilinski smiles at Stiles and Derek. “You can wrap up what’s remaining of the chicken and put it in the fridge once it’s cool. Everything else can be thrown out.” Derek grabs the chicken from the table and begins doing as he was told.

“That went well,” Stiles chirps once they’re alone. He flips the switch on the kettle then takes the chicken from Derek’s hands and leans up to kiss him, “Thank you for trying your best.”

“It was fun,” Derek agrees. “Although are you sure Scott likes me?”

Stiles laughs open mouthed and places his hand on Derek’s cheek. “I’m sure,” he answers. He pulls back from Derek before filling the sink with the water from the kettle and adds, “Although I don’t know why he was so hard on you about the soccer thing.”

“Maybe he’s upset that you have someone else to watch it with now?” He suggests as he rests his head on Stiles’ shoulder from behind and hands him another dirty plate.

Stiles is silent for a moment before he nods and mumbles, “Yeah, maybe.” He turns on the cold tap then knocks Derek’s head off his shoulder and scowls at him. “Go, do something and stop distracting me. There’s food that needs to be thrown out.” He grins at Derek’s frowning face and continues, “We’ll cuddle later.”

_______

****_**Epilogue** _

“I don’t know where I’m taking them Derek, what if I get lost and we end up being murdered?” Stiles exaggerates as Derek drags him out of the taxi rank and towards his car. “I thought you loved me.”

Derek rolls his eyes and says, “I do love you. That’s why I gave you this job.” He hands Stiles the  car keys and a piece of paper. “The address is on there, just type it into the GPS and follow the directions.”

“But Dereeeeek, I don’t want to,” Stiles whines as Derek opens the car door. “Can’t you come with me? It’s my first time.”

“I can’t,” Derek tells him for the fourth time since he told Stiles he had customers. “You’re picking four people up.” Stiles is still pouting as he gets into the car.

“You’re the worst boyfriend ever.”

Derek laughs, “No I’m not, and you wanted this job, remember? You told me you wanted to be a kick ass taxi driver like me when you first got your license.”

“That was over ten months ago,” Stiles argues. He leans up to kiss Derek and then jokes, “I was young and naive.”

“You’re still young and naive,” Derek jokes, rolling his eyes. He reaches out and wipes a bit of dust from Stiles’ cheek and then kisses him on the side of his mouth. “This is only until you graduate college and we travel to Germany, okay?”

Stiles nods and puts the keys into the car. Then he grabs Derek’s hand in his own and asks, “Are you still sure about that? It’s going to be for two years Derek and you have your own business here, and you have family that love you.”

“Laura will take over the business and Cora will temporarily take over my job until Isaac is finished with college,” he explains. Then he kneels down so he’s at Stiles’ eye level and says, “And you are my family. I go where ever you go.”

****  



End file.
